Feed device for stencil-cutting machines.



FpA; JOHNSON. FEED DEVICE FOR STENCIL CUTTING MACHINES.

Patented 134215 1111915.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 5, 1913.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

' Inventor:

F. A. JOHNSON.

FEED DEVICE FOR STENCIL CUTTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 5. I913.

Patented May 11, 1915.

3 SHEETSSHEET '2- Inventor:

F. A. JOHNSON.

FEED DEVICE FOR STENCIL CUTTING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR- 5, 1913- 3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

Inventor:

Patented May 11, 1915.

FRANK AMOS JOHNSON, OF

DUN ELLEN, NEW JERSEY.

FEED DEVICE FOR STENCIL-CUTTING MACHINES.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

Patented May 11, 1915.

Application filed April 5, 1913. Serial No. 758,997.

SON, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Dunellen, in the county of Middle sex and State of New Jersey, have invented a new and useful Feed Device for Stencil- Cutting Machines, of which the following is a s ecification.

y invention relates to a device for giving a variable feed to the stencils of a stencilcutting machine in order that the normal spacing between the letters of certain lines may be reduced and additional characters put in those lines.

In the accompanying drawings I have shown so much of an Elliott stencil-cutting machine as is necessary to illustrate my invention- Figure 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 is a plan; Figs. 3 and 4 are cross sections on the lines 3 3 and 44 of Fig. 1 respectively.

In the large number of these machines which are in use provision is made for putting twenty-seven characters and spaces in a line. It frequently happens that three or four additional characters need to be put into a line. This is sometimes accomplished by throwing out the machine feed and by feeding the stencil by hand, gaging the movement by the eye. This is slow and unsatisfactory. Quite a number of machines have been altered and a finer or closer feed put on them; but where this is done'they cannot be changed back to the normal feed and all the lines of all the stencils which are out have a very narrow land between the letters, thereby greatly weakening the-stencil. By my device the normal spacing of the letters is obtained for lines which do not eX- ceed the normal length. If one additional character is needed to be inserted in a line the machine may be set to put it inthenormal spacing between all the letters beingreduced a very little; and so on for two, three, four -or five additional characters. Only those lines which need to be reduced below normal letter spacing are changed and the spacing of each line is reduced the least possible amount that is necessary to accommodate the letters to be put into that line. The

stencils are, therefore, as a whole, much stronger than they would be if all the lines were closely letter spaced. The change is. efi'ected almost instantly, so that in cutting a thousand stencils it might happen that only ten or a dozen lines would need to be reduced in letter spacing below the normal, the change would bemade for these lines without appreciable loss of time and the remaining lines normally letter spaced.

In the Elliott machine there is a main frame 1, which carries a revolving die wheel 2, which is provided with a series of punches 3. The movements of the die wheel are controlled by an index wheel 4, which is supported by a downward and forwardly projection portion 5 of the frame. The front of the frame s so formed that it may be cut away, leaving four ears or clips which serve as keepers for a horizontal slide 7 and a rack 8. In the machine referred to these two parts are joined together forming one and the same piece. A bracket 9, attached to the slide 7 carries a spring clip 10 which holds the stencil 11 which is being cut. The rack 8 is fed to the left by a pinion 12 which is loose von a shaft 13. The pinion is provided with a disk 14 and there is an arm 15 on the front end of theshaft 13 which carries a spring plunger 16. This plunger is adapted to enter one of a seriesof holes 1'1 in the disk 14 and thereby lock the pinion to the shaft so that as the shaft 13 is revolved in the proper direction the rack will be fed to the leftthe pin 16 being withdrawn to return the rack to normal starting position.

' The shaft 13 is journaled in a pair of brackets 18 which extend out from the bed and it has at its rear end a ratchet wheel 19. A feed shaft 20 which is in line with the shaft 13,-carries an arm 21 having 'a pawl 22. The detailed construction and connections of the stencil machine are not shownsuffice, it to say that the index wheel 4 is turned to bring the desired punch 3 over the stencil; the punch is then driven and on its return movement the feed shaft 20 is rocked so that the ratchet wheel 19 is moved one tooth and the shaft 13 is thereby turned a little and the stencil fed along so that the next punch which is driven will be stamped into the stencil along side of the previously punched characters.

Here is where my device is introduced. The rack which, in the machine referred to, is in one piece, I cut in two, forming the slide 7 and rack 8, as already pointed out. These parts I join by a bar 23 which is sccured to the slide 7 and which is adapted to slide in a groove 24 of the rack 8it being held by two keepers 25 and 26. This, in reality gives the eifect of a telescoping rack The lower arm of the bell crank 27 has a roll 30 which is adapted to travel in a channel 31 of an arm 32, the right hand end of said arm being pivoted to a bracket plate 33 which is secured to the front side of the depending portion 5 of the main frame 1. The plate 33 is provided with a series of holes 34 and a pin 35 is adapted to hold the left end of the arm 32 at any desired elevation.

It is evident from the foregoing construction that when the pin 35 is in the lower hole, as shown in Fig. 1, that the channel 31 will be horizontal and that the step-by-step movement which is given to the rack 8 by the ratchet wheel 19 will be transmitted to the slide 7 and that the stencil will be fed a like amount, the same as though the parts 7 and 8 were integral. If, however, the left end of the arm 32 be raised to the dotted line position shown in Fig. 1, as the rack'8 is carried to the left with the roll 30 traveling in the slot or channel 31 it will be carried upward with each movement of the rack 8 and the slide 7 will be given a less movement and the letters of the stencil. will be crowded closely together. By moving the pin 35 up one hole from the bottom one additional character can be put in and so on, one additional character being added for each upward step of the arm 32. As the size of the stencil is fixed a forward limiting stop 36 is put in the frame to limit the slide 7 and this slide is formed with a shoulder 37- which limits the backward movement.

I claim:

1. In a stencil-cutting machine, a travel ing feed device; a. stencil-carrying device; connections between said feed device and said stencil-carrying device; in combination with means for giving said feed device a fixed step-by-step movement and means for simultaneously varying the length of the connections between said feed device and said stencil-carrying device.

2. In a stencilcutting machine, the combination of a' primary feed device with a stencil-carrying devicesaid devices being arranged to telescope or slide one on the other; means for giving said primary feed device a fixed step-by-step movement; connections between said primary feed device and said stencil-carrying device which are adapted to reduce the movement of said stencil carrying device with relation to said primary feed device and means for limiting the movement of said stencil-carrying device, whereby, with a fixed movement of said stencil-carrying device a variable movement is provided for said primary feed device.

3. In a stencil-cutting machine, the combination of the feedrack 8; bell crank 27 mounted on said rack; stencil-carrying slide 7 ;,limiting stops 36 and 37; connecting link 28; the bracket plate 33 secured to the front of said stencil-cutting machine; the swinging channel arm 32 pivoted to said plate; the pin 35 for holding one end of said channel arm in variable positions and the roll 30 secured to said bell crank and adapted to slide in said channel arm, substantially as described and shown.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

F. AMOS JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

T. O. MACKINNON, HARRY W. MEEN. 

